When did we decide to be silent?

Saying "fuck off" is about the most useless thing you can do.

Unlike, say, voting, which a lot of people didn't do because omg Hillary is yucky.

And so, they elected Trump and packed the courts, and had their way with the country.

The following things pose no threat whatsoever to the status quo:

  • Complaining online

  • Rhetoric, slogans

  • Street protests

  • Storming government offices, occupying parks

  • Petitions

What does change things:

  • Involving yourself in the selection of candidates through the primary system.

  • Actually voting. In the primaries. Then in the general election.

  • Labor organizing and strike action.

  • Initiative and Referendum efforts.

People seem to want political change to be fun and cathartic. Their desire for "FUCK YOU!" to work exceeds all evidence that it does. Their desire for "taking to the streets" to impact anything, exceeds all evidence that it does.

You aren't being muzzled - you are quite literally expressing yourself openly and without fear of censorship right now.

No one owes you a platform, but you can make your own.

This isn't about freedom of expression.

This has to do with people who are upset with the current situation being unable to find their own ass in the dark, or more specifically, a pigheaded unwillingness to acknowledge where the levers of power are and taking the effort to pull them.

I warned people in 2016: This is about the courts and could impact the country for a generation. And still people did and said stupid shit like:

  • Well if they won't nominate Bernie Sanders I'M NOT VOTING. TAKE THAT DEMOCRATS!

  • Well if they won't nominate Bernie Sanders I'M VOTING FOR TRUMP! I want an OUTSIDER

  • They're both the same

When people who have a progressive bent in this country look at themselves in the mirror and start blaming themselves for messaging, for failure to act, for doing anything other than the one thing which actually can move the needle, we'll see progress.

Instead, everyone wants to blame crotchety reactionary Boomers for (gasp!) outvoting them.

And as for our own generation, the older half is leaning increasingly to the right anyway.

/r/GenX Thread